Nexus - 0403 - New Times Magazine-pages

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Yugoslavian President Tito. man in much, much dirtier work. Tatum was also sent to search for missing US POWs from The "Contragate" years teem with well-documented accounts of Vietnam and elsewhere in South-East Asia. illicit wholesale gun-running and dope-smuggling. The exposé By 1976, Tatum was operating out of Lamar, Colorado, ina series published in Autumn 1996 by the San Jose Mercury-Post, communications facility called OLAB. His contact there was Don entitled "The Dark Alliance", openly finger-points at the CIA and Holmes, president of Valley—a Savings & Loan bank.* Tatum the Reagan administration for turning a blind eye to massive acted as his courier, shuttling between Lamar and Springfield, cocaine smuggling. Moreover, the series of articles claims that Colorado, with transaction files. From there he was transferred to _ the explosion of "crack cocaine" in Los Angeles resulted entirely MacDill Air Force Base, Tampa, Florida. from the Contra leaders-cum-dope peddlers who made vast per- Shortly before his MacDill posting, Tatum received a call from sonal fortunes from their activities. Today, the official argument Colby telling him he was resigning his position as Director, remains that the Contras were "freelancing" without the knowl- Central Intelligence, and recommending Tatum should deactivate edge or consent of their CIA "handlers" or North's so-called his clandestine CIA activities. Colby continued, saying that "Enterprise". Despite these assertions, mountains of hard evi- remaining active without Colby there to protect him might place dence point in a different direction. Included in this evidence is him in personal "jeopardy", as he had powerful enemies in an entry from North's own diary which shows his knowledge of Washington. This warning referred to Nixon, cocaine shipments. Kissinger and Haig, and Tatum's role in and In stark contrast to these denials, Tatum survival from "Operation Red Rock". says that North's "Enterprise" not only set Tatum took good notice of the warning and up the cocaine factories and "ran" the became deactive. Later, in 1979, he requested Tatum says that Colombian cartels, but was also responsi- and was granted entry into a USAF Reserve . ' ble for masterminding the massive ship- program. Leaving active military service he [Oliver] North S ments of narcotics into the US. moved to Gunnison, Colorado, and took upa | W taal! Significantly, he is not alone in making position with Bo Calloway, owner of the Enterprise not only these accusations. A number of those Crested Bute ski area. The appointment was 1 involved in Col. North's operations have arranged by Colby. set up the cocaine subsequently come forward and spilled the During: 1980 he received a visit from two factories and "ran" beans. Almost all of these "whistleblow- men who informed him he was being reactivat- . ers" have been hounded and imprisoned. ed, but into the US Army instead of the Air the Colombian Some have died, whilst others have fled. Force. He was sent to the US Army The whole Contra thing, Tatum Flight School for rotary- wing training at cartels, but was also states, was also being used by an responsible for Fort Rucker. From there he was assigned extremely covert group called to the 160th Aviation Battalion/Special Pegasus. Forces at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. masterminding the During February 1985, Tatum was massive shipments of narcotics into the US. Shortly afterwards, the 160th combined piloting "Dustoff" (Medevac) flights with others to form Task Force 160. for the US Army's 3/498th Medical It was in this unit that Tatum played a Company, stationed at Fort Stewart, "spooky" role in the US invasion of Georgia. Two flight crews, including Grenada. A photograph of him standing Tatum's, were transferred to in front of his MD-500 Defender gunship Palmerola Air Base, Honduras. Each on the beach-head in Grenada, appeared flight consisted of a pilot, copilot, along with a feature story in the medic and crew chief. Once famil- Louisville Courier-Journal. Tatum will iarised, they assumed the Medevac only say of this episode that he "wasn't mission for Joint Task Force Bravo. there", in the same sense that he "wasn't in Cambodia". Previously, in 1984, Tatum infiltrated the 3/498th on the instruc- At that time he was attached to the US Army's 160th air wing at tions of Lt Col. Oliver North who had established contact under Fort Campbell. Not only was the Hughes helicopter then not in the code-name "Jake" (North had "control" of the 160th air wing the Army's inventory, but the 160th didn't officially exist. Jim and was also deeply involved with the tactical planning of "black Malone, of the Louisville Courier-Journal, finds this extraordi- ops" missions in the Grenada invasion). nary. He has documents showing the 160th was stationed at Fort On 15 February 1985, during a flight to La Ceiba, Honduras, he Campbell, even though officials in the Pentagon continue to deny was instructed to contact his local "handler", Major Felix it—as they deny the wing's role in Grenada. Malone, in a tele- Rodriguez—later to prove a major figure in the Iran-Contra inves- phone conversation with this writer, advised that the 160th is now _ tigation. Rodriguez informed Tatum that in addition to his Army stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina—home of the famous "Medevac" duties he was to support covert "Pegasus" missions. Special Forces, the Green Berets. Their mission is to fly "Delta These, he was told, would take priority over his other duties. He teams" on covert assignments, Malone added. was also given his "chain of command": three individuals, any of whom could authorise Pegasus missions. THE CONTRA COCAINE TRAIN In addition to Oliver North and Felix Rodriguez, Tatum would During 1983, Colby established contact again, advising Tatum —_ henceforward take orders from Amiram Nir, a former Mossad he would shortly be contacted by "a man called North". This, as agent and advisor to Vice President Bush. Aviation support for Tatum was to discover later, was none other than Lt Col. Oliver Pegasus missions operated out of Ilopango Air Base, Honduras North—the central architect of America's Nicaraguan Contra (home of the CIA proprietary airline Corporate Air Services) plus campaign. Besides fighting a covert war, North was also the link- numerous Contra camps located in the jungles and mountains set up the cocaine factories and "ran" THE CONTRA COCAINE TRAIN During 1983, Colby established contact again, advising Tatum he would shortly be contacted by "a man called North". This, as Tatum was to discover later, was none other than Lt Col. Oliver North—the central architect of America's Nicaraguan Contra campaign. Besides fighting a covert war, North was also the link- APRIL - MAY 1997 NEXUS - 27 the Colombian